Overhead garage door



@EL 30; A1953 1. H. BURR OVERHEAD GARAGE DooE 2 SHEETS- SHEET l Filed Jan. 8, 1951 INVENTOR.

Oct. E@ E951 J. H. BURR 2,5731

OVERHEAD GARAGE DOOR 2 SHEETS--SHEET 2 Filed Jan. 8, 1951 Patented Oct. 30, 1951 UNITED LS PATE NT `F F I CE ovnRHEAD GARAGE Doon lohn H. Burr, Denver, Colo. npplieationfmnnaryis, 195i, serial No. v204,925

This invention relates to .an .overhead garage doorof the type divided `into lupper .and lower portions hinged .together `horizontally vacross the center .of the dooropening. Doors of this Vtype have .been objectionabledue to the fact that the lower portion ofthe door required vsuch .aspace toswing inwardlyas to make their use .impractical on small garages due to the .limiteddistance between the garagedoor .andoar therein.

The principal object of 4this 4inventionis to provide a door construction -of the above-described type in i-which the lower portion of the .door will move .substantially vertical as .it .moves 4to or away from the closed position so that it willclear .the bumper of aclosely Vpositionedfear lwithout car interference.

The invention is designed more lparticularly as .an improvement over .the overhead garage door shown inapplicants Aprior .PatentNo .2,334,- '749.

Other objects andadvantages reside in .the .detail .construction of the invention, which Ais l-designed for simplicity, economy, `and efiiciency` These will become more apparent from the following description.

In the following detailed description of the invention, reference is had to the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof. Like numerals refer to like parts in all views of the drawing and throughout the description.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 yis a vertical section through the r`aimproved door, taken on the line II, Fig. t6, 11.11.15- trating it in the completely l.closed position;

Fig. 2 is a similar sectional view, illustrating the initial opening or nal closing position of the improved door;

Fig. 3 is a similar sectional View, illustrating an intermediate position of the door;

Fig. 4 is a similar sectional view, illustrating the door in the completely open position;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged, fragmentary, detail, perspective view, illustrating a hinged angle bracket employed with the improved door;

Fig. 6 is an inside face view of the door in place in a wall;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged, fragmentary, detail, perspective view, illustrating a hinge and latch fixture employed with the improved door; and

Fig. .8 Ais a similar perspective View, illustrating a latch lever construction employed on the improved door.

In the drawings a garage wall is indicated at I0, with side door casings I I and a head door casing I2 incorporated therein. The floor line of the 4 Claims. (Cl. 160-191) garage .in which thedoor is installed is indicated at I3.

The improved r door comprises an upper door portion `suspended `by ymeans of inside suspension hinges I5 `from the lhead casing I2. The upper portion I4 occupies substantially the .enltire upper half ofthe door opening. A lower-door portion rIii closesrthe lower half .of the door opening and is suspended from the upper portion .I4 bylrneans ofsuitable outside hinges I'I. The door is `stopped in Vthe closed position by means of a suitable door stop strip I8 `nailed or otherwise se-.- cured to theside casings -I-'I and the head cas. ing I2. The lower portion lof vthe door. is prevented .from swinging inwardly Vby means of curvedstopstraps |19 secured `to the side casings l-I at the bottom thereof.

A channel-.shaped `hinge 4fixture A2.0 is secured to each side casing Il above the middle of the latter by means of .suitable bolts 2l. A swinging link `member `2-2 is suspended ,from a hinge pin 23 in the llowerportion of each fixture 2B, The lower extremity Aof veach link member 22 is hingedly connected at 2.4 to the rearextremity of the long leg of an L-shaped, .hinged angle bracket 25. The forward extremity of the short leg of each angle bracket 25 is turneddownward and .mounted on a second vhinge `,nin 2.5 `extending .through `a projecting flange on anangleat tachment member 21. Theattachment members 2l are secured at opposite vsides of the insideface of .thelower v.door section IB by meansof suitable attachment bolts 2-8. A tens-ion spring 3| extends from an .ear 29 formed Yon the lower extremity `of each link member .22 upwardly to ,an attachmentloop attached in one of the ,hinge xtures 20 above the hinge pin 23 therein.

It will be noted that each L-shaped angle bracket is so mounted that when the door is in the closed position, the shorter leg will extend downwardly to its hinge pin 2B at an acute angle to the plane of, and out of contact with, the attachment member 21, as shown in Figs. 1 and 5.

Let us assume that the door is in the closed position of Fig. 1. To open the door, the center portion thereof is forced or pulled inwardly to the position of Fig. 2. In moving to this position, the lower part of the lower portion I6 of the door rotates about the axes of the hinge pins 26 with little or no inward movement, and the upper part of the lower portion of the door swings inwardly until it rests against the shorter legs of the L- shaped angle bracket members 25, as shown in Fig. 2.

It will be noted that, in moving to the partially opened position of Fig. 2, there has been no inward movement of the lower portion of the door, so that it will not swing against the bumper of an adjacent car, and that in moving to the position of Fig. 3, the lower portion of the door has moved inwardly but slightly, so that very little car interference is encountered.

The springs 3| in Fig. 1 are exerting no lifting action of any kind upon the door. When the door reaches the position of Fig. 2, however, with the lower door section against the angle brackets 25, the springs 3| exert a lifting action on the lower door portion to elevate it to the position of Fig. 3, thence to the position of Fig. 4.

From the position of Fig. 3 the lower portion of the door moves upwardly and outwardly to the position of Fig. 4, where the entire weight is supported by the springs 3|. The tension in the springs is pre-set so that when the resisting toggle action of the two door sections is broken, as in Fig. 2, the springs will automatically elevate the door to the open position.

The door is locked in the closed position by means of two elongated latch bars 32 extending through latch guides 33 at the sides of the upper door section I4. The extremities of the latch bars 32 ride over a latch hook 34 formed on each hinge fixture 20, as shown in Fig. '7, to automatically latch the door closed.

The bars 32 extend from hinge pins 35 in a latch lever 36. The latch lever is pivoted on a pivot bolt 31 mounted in a latch frame 38 at the middle of the door. The latch lever 36 is provided with a projecting handle 39 by means of which the lever may be swung to withdraw the extremities of the bars 32 horizontally from engagement with the hooks 34 to release the door. The bars 32 are constantly urged to the engaging position by means of a tension spring 4|).

The lever 36 may be locked against movement by means of a swinging lock member 4| pivoted on the frame 38 so that it may swing downwardly behind the lever 36 to prevent unlocking movement thereof. The lock member 4| rests on a keyactuated support 42 mounted on a lock tumbler 43. To lock the door it is only necessary to drop the locking member 4| onto the support 42. To unlock the door, it is necessary to rotate the key tumbler barrel 43 to cause the support 42 to swing to the left in Fig. 8 to raise the locking member 4| out of the path of the lever 36.

While a specific form of the improvement has been described and illustrated herein, it is to be understood that the same may be varied, within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired secured by Letters Patent is:

1. An overhead garage door construction comprising: side door casings; a horizontal head casing supported by said side door casings; an upper door portion; inside hinges suspending said upper door portion from said head casing; a lower door portion; outside hinges suspending said lower door section from said upper door portion; a hinge fixture secured to the inside of each side door casing; a swinging link suspended from each xture;

' a tension spring attached at its one extremity to each fixture above the link thereon and secured at its other extremity to the swinging extremity of the adjacent link; an L-shaped bracket member hinged at one extremity to the swinging extremity of each of said links and extending toward said lower door portion, thence downwardly therealong; and pivot means securing the lower extremity of each L-shaped bracket member to said lower door portion.

2. An overhead garage door construction as recited in claim 1 in which the downwardly extending portion of each L-shaped bracket member forms an acute angle with said lower door portion when in the closed position to allow said latter portion to initially swing inwardly against said bracket members.

3. An overhead garage door construction as recited in claim 2 having a stop plate secured to each side frame member adjacent the bottom of the latter to prevent the lower edge of said lower door portion from swinging inwardly until it has raised a predetermined distance.

4. An overhead garage door construction as recited in claim 2 in which the pivot means comprises an angle member secured vertically at each side of said lower door portion; and a pivot member securing the lower extremity of each link adjacent the lower extremity of one of said angle members so that the upper portion of each angle member may swing inwardly into contact with the adjacent bracket member.

JOHN H. BURR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,804,329 Farr May 5, 1931 2,092,523 Post Sept. 7, 1937 2,314,634 Robinson Mar. 23, 1943 2,334,749 Burr Nov. 23, 1943 

